


your art on my skin (you’re with me forever)

by kamrynmustdie



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoos, M/M, Piercings, SOFT!!!!!, Tattoos, damn they’re rly the only ones in this, i dedicated a whole scene to bin’s piercings just bc i love the idea of him being pierced, ive had this in my drafts for months so it’s finally time to unleash it, jeongin gets tattoos bc he’s a big boy now, oh warning: descriptions of tattoos/piercings being performed, sigh changbin is a piece of art, teen for one (1) shirtless scene at the end even tho it’s not sexual it’s There
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-17 15:19:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18101153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamrynmustdie/pseuds/kamrynmustdie
Summary: (that title is So Bad im sorry)every month, you ask for a line.what are you counting?and why do you need to count with tattoos?





	your art on my skin (you’re with me forever)

**Author's Note:**

> that summary,,, ew lmao i’m so bad at this
> 
> so i slept on this for months bc i don’t like it and it’s still far from my best but.. i just wanna get it outta my drafts
> 
> yes it’s based on a tumblr post but i won’t  
> tell you which one until the end
> 
> n e ways jeongbin are something of a rarepair so!! they deserve all the love, i fell in love with their dynamic as i wrote this

changbin had seen many things in his time. perhaps that was the issue: when it came to being a tattoo artist, he was exposed to all kinds of strange ideas, so much so that he was kind of desensitised to most things by now. from designs based on memes to those so utterly bizarre it hurt to try and design them, he wasn’t easily surprised.

so, when a teenager (clearly only just able to be tattooed, judging by his youthful looks) walked in, requesting a tattoo, he wasn’t too bothered. he went through the usual ID process, learning that the kid was 19, only two years below himself.

“what is it you want? did you have a design in mind?”

the boy (yang jeongin, according to his ID) smiled at that, as if he’d been planning this at length.

“just a straight line.” changbin blinked; was that it? “right here,” jeongin continued, gesturing to his inner bicep.

“...why? does it have a meaning for you?” changbin was honestly quite confused. this kid had just sauntered in, asking for a single line?

“yes, it’s important.”

well, he couldn’t argue with that. he knew when to stop pressing for answers.

“i shouldn’t have to design anything for that, so if you’re ready to get it done now-“

“hell yeah, i’m ready now-“

“then step this way.”

jeongin followed changbin through to a sectioned-off back room, where the latter began sterilising the room and preparing his equipment.

“my name’s changbin, by the way,” he called over his shoulder to the younger as he worked. “you’ve actually chosen a neat spot for a subtle tattoo like that. shouldn’t hurt too much, either,” he hummed, turning to jeongin and pulling on a pair of black latex gloves.

“good, i’m bad with pain.”

changbin frowned. “then why get a tattoo?”

“because they’re cool.” jeongin rolled his eyes as if that much should be obvious. “i thought you, of all people, would know that.” for the first time, he let his eyes stray to the dark ink surrounding changbin’s toned arms, disappearing under the black fabric of his t-shirt, peeking out at the neck. the artist was a work of art himself, in all senses of the word, and something in jeongin wanted to explore the extent of the tattoos that seemed to cover the older boy.

“jeongin-ah? you with me? oh, god, don’t pass out already-“

jeongin shook himself, ridding his mind of any untoward thoughts concerning the man in front of him. changbin was here to do him a favour, not just to get stared at.

“i’m fine, just... your tattoos are kind of beautiful. anyway, what were you saying?”

changbin fought the urge to blush. “thank you! uh, if i can just mark where you might want this line - you might want to roll up your sleeve so i can get to your arm.”

jeongin complied, pulling at his shirt until it bunched at his shoulder. he was suddenly cripplingly aware of the paleness of his own skin, the lankiness of his own limbs in comparison to changbin’s built, tattooed arms.

“stop tensing, it’ll hurt more when i start for real. try not to freak out, yeah? it’ll be over before you know it.” the words did little to distract jeongin from his own thoughts, but he pulled himself from his reverie and looked up at changbin instead. “how’s that for placement?”

jeongin stood up, moving to look at his marked arm in the mirror. there, in the centre of his left bicep, was a slim blue line, soon to be finalised in black.

“it’s perfect.”

changbin grinned, the snake bites decorating his lips moving as he did so. “amazing. lay down for me, then, and i can tattoo it for you.”

jeongin flopped on the chair, head missing the trays next to it by a fraction. brushing off changbin’s concern, he stuck his arm out, ready to feel the gun against it.

“you ready? deep breaths for me, it won’t take long.”

a buzzing noise began somewhere close to his ear, and it took all of his willpower to not stare at the tool that would be piercing ink into his skin forever. that was just too much.

so instead, he stared at changbin.

the boy was interesting in all the right ways, and every time jeongin thought he’d seen everything, a new detail popped up. from the metal framing one delicate eyebrow (what a contrast, he thought, something so pretty accompanied by such a harsh accessory - he made it work, though), to the ring through the opposite nostril, to the studs at either end of his full lips, to the varying jewellery adorning both ears, he was covered in art one way or another. and that wasn’t even mentioning the tattoos themselves - jeongin could spend hours looking at every single one, piecing together the meanings bit by bit.

“...and we’re done!” with a cold wipe against his skin, changbin sat up from where he’d been leaning over jeongin’s arm, smiling reassuringly.

“-it’s done already? i didn’t know you’d started.”

changbin laughed then, loud and bright, teeth showing, tongue piercing glinting in the harsh light of the parlour.

he really was full of surprises.

jeongin hopped back off the chair, admiring his arm in the mirror. there it was, a simple line, just as he’d wanted.

“hold on, i still need to wrap it yet. hold still for a moment, would you?” jeongin froze in place as changbin approached him again, deft fingers wrapping film around the new tattoo, before pulling the sleeve back down over it to see how it sat.

“should be fine like that. make sure you don’t wear tight shirts for a few days if they’re going to cover it, keep it wrapped for a little while, come back if you have any concerns. use this-“ changbin handed him a bottle of lotion- “twice daily on it, morning and night, until it’s fully healed, or you run out.”

jeongin blinked. that was a lot to take in.

“that’ll be ₩70,000, then.”

•

“you again?”

a month after his first tattoo, jeongin was back in changbin’s parlour, asking for another tattoo.

“what can we do you this time?”

“another line. next to the last one.”

changbin blinked. “i won’t even ask. c’mon through.”

•

two more months passed before anything remotely out-of-the-ordinary happened.

“jeongin-ah! another line?”

“yeah!”

great conversational skills, jeongin.

“next to the other four?”

“nah, across them. like a tally.”

changbin sighed heavily. this kid, honestly.

“you want a tally. you could’ve gotten that tally all in one go, could you not? would’ve cost way less.”

jeongin tapped the side of his nose with a smug smirk. “it wouldn’t work that way, hyung. just trust me.”

with a roll of his eyes, changbin beckoned for jeongin to follow him to the back, wondering when they crossed the ‘hyung’ line, and why he didn’t hate it.

•

“hyung, it’s my birthday!” jeongin had a notable spring in his step today, eyes glimmering with bliss. “i’m 20!”

changbin couldn’t help but smile with him. “are you going to get something different to celebrate?”

“absolutely not, give me another line.”

changbin didn’t let his smile slip, leading jeongin to the workspace. he began to prepare everything, as usual, and talked absentmindedly as he did so. “you know the drill, sleeve up, mark it, tattoo it, bam, done. how many’s this, now?”

jeongin quickly assessed the number of lines on his skin. “uh, eight. this is my ninth.”

changbin raised an eyebrow as he readied his pen. “how many do you want?”

“who knows,” jeongin shrugged, “not me.”

by the time he was done, they’d lapsed into comfortable silence, as they often did. jeongin’s arm no longer trembled under the gun, as it had the first few times, and he no longer felt the need for mindless chatter.

“₩70,000, as usual?”

changbin smiled shyly, fishing for his own wallet. “it’s on me. consider it a present. happy birthday, jeongin.”

(if the younger had spent the rest of the day in stunned, maybe even awed silence, nobody had to know.)

•

“you’ve been doing this a year, now, you know that? this is the twelfth line i’ve given you.”

jeongin hummed distractedly, staring at the studs dotted around changbin’s left ear.

“do you do piercings here, too?”

if changbin hadn’t been an expert at his job by now, he would’ve faltered and fucked up his line.

“yeah, why, what do you want? you’re all done, by the way.” jeongin felt the signature cold wipe over his bicep, stayed put so he could have his arm wrapped. he was used to it by now.

“lobes, maybe a double helix? you’ll have to explain all of yours to me one day.”

changbin grinned softly at the hope in the younger boy’s face. “maybe. we can do your piercings now, if you want? they’re ₩15,000 each for the lobes and ₩20,000 for each helix. you get 20% off for every pair, though.”

jeongin nodded, thinking it over. “let’s do it.”

changbin handed him a form, similar to those he filled in for his tattoos, and ticked no to all the possible health problems, signing it and handing it back.

“great, now i need to sterilise another room.” jeongin followed changbin to a neighbouring station, this one surrounded by piercing tools rather than tattoo guns and ink. he watched interestedly as changbin sprayed the chair, the floor, and the worktops before placing paper towels on the chair itself. “come sit.”

once jeongin was sat, changbin spoke again. “i’m just going to clean your ears, it might feel a bit weird.” jeongin stilled himself as the elder sterilised his ear lobes. “which side do you want your helix on?”

wordlessly, jeongin pointed to his right ear. changbin followed, rubbing the cleansing fluid across the cartilage before grabbing his pen, dotting where the studs would go.

“all good?”

jeongin turned his head this way and that in front of the mirror, imagining the pen marks as silver jewellery. “all good.”

“alright, keep still. i’ll do the helixes first. are barbells okay?”

he showed jeongin the earrings, plain silver with a ball at each end, and received an enthusiastic nod. he removed the studs from their packaging, unscrewing them and setting them on a dish next to him.

changbin discarded the pen and reached for a needle, steadying it against the ink on jeongin’s upper ear before applying slight pressure. “deep breath-“ he pushed through, keeping the needle stable as he picked up a barbell. he heard a small gasp, and pulled back to look at jeongin.

“okay?”

a shaky nod.

changbin leaned back in. “jewellery’s going in now, another deep breath-“ he used his gloved thumb to push the metal into where the needle had been, getting another gasp. screwing the barbell end on securely, he reassured jeongin that it was over.

“..but i still want three more.”

“oh, i hadn’t forgotten. that piercing, however, is over. sure you can handle it?”

jeongin raised his eyebrows, challenging him, almost. “sure.”

•

jeongin had plans this time. he pushed open the door, the bell alerting changbin to his presence, and wandered up to where the elder was sat, designing a complex-looking piece.

“in-ah! let me guess-“

jeongin cut him off with a smirk. “a line, yep. finish off the tally.”

changbin smiled fondly, rolling his eyes in mock-exasperation. “you’re something else. how are the piercings? it’s been, what, three months?”

“yup, look,” jeongin replied, turning his head to the left so changbin could get a clear view of the black studs in his right ear, “i just changed them last week.”

“they look great. healing fine, too, by the looks of it. c’mon through, then, you know how it goes.”

it was, as usual, over before he realised, and it felt like seconds before he was standing up to look at the new marking on his arm. three full tallies sat where clear skin had once resided, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

“₩70,000, like normal?” changbin led him back to the front desk, having wrapped the new tattoo.

“i can take you out, too, if you want.”

smooth, jeongin. real smooth.

by the way changbin seemed to stop breathing for a second, he thought so too.

“not, like, a date as such, just-“

“n-no, i’d like that.”

he’d made changbin stutter. he did that. the power he held..

“i’ll meet you here when you finish?”

there was a certain hopeful undertone to jeongin’s voice, and honestly, who would changbin be to say no to him?

“i get off at 6, come get me then.”

•

“tell me about your piercings, hyung.”

the look of shock that appeared on changbin’s previously docile face was honestly amusing, and jeongin couldn’t help but giggle over their takeaway trays as the elder fought to regain his composure.

“sure. you want my ears first?”

jeongin nodded, leaning closer in the cool night air of the park.

(if anyone asked, he was that close because he was cold, or wanted to see changbin’s jewellery properly. he definitely didn’t do it for the sake of being near the other boy. nope.)

“so, i obviously started with my first lobes, and got my seconds a couple years after. the thirds, maybe six months after that? so by then i already had six piercings just in my lobes. when i got my thirds i got this single helix, here,” he paused, fiddling with the ring sitting in the cartilage of his left ear, “which hurt a fair bit more than any others i’d gotten done.”

jeongin nodded thoughtfully; his helixes had hurt a hell of a lot more than his lobes too.

“so, then came this fourth lobe, and my double helix in this ear,” he continued, moving his head so jeongin could see the pair of studs in his right ear.

“they’re about all the names i know, so you’ll have to guide me from here on in,” jeongin said with an airy laugh, bringing changbin to laugh with him.

(jeongin couldn’t help but notice how cute he looked like this.)

“my left, i’ve got my tragus done, look-“ he moved to poke at the piercing- “my daith, and a conch, here.” he pointed at each in turn as he mentioned them. “you can put a ring through the conch and have it, like, surround the cartilage, but my fourth lobe gets in the way.”

before he knew what he was doing, jeongin was reaching out to fiddle  
with the jewellery decorating changbin’s ear, fascinated by the inexplicable beauty it gave the older boy.

“what about your right?”

changbin smiled, and it was almost shy. he felt jeongin’s fingers come to grasp gently at his jaw, turning his head so he could see the various piercings properly. he hoped jeongin wouldn’t notice the way his breath hitched at the proximity.

“see this? it’s a forward helix. i’ve always thought they were super pretty, and it’s one of the few i’ve always wanted, as soon as i learnt what piercing was. people assume if you have a forward helix, there’s no room for an industrial, but i think they set each other off quite nicely.”

jeongin agreed, resisting the urge to let his fingers stray to the bar crossing changbin’s cartilage, to linger on the delicate jewel resting below the larger end of the industrial.

“this one’s called a rook,” he carried on, a slightly shaky finger (he’d blame the cold) motioning to the piercing in question, “this is an anti-tragus, and this is my personal favourite-“ he trailed off, fiddling with the silver studs. “this is called a snug, and i couldn’t love it more. you can get a faux-snug by getting a conch and a low helix, but to be honest, why spend more money on two piercings when one can look exactly the same?”

jeongin hummed, watching changbin’s slender fingers as they twisted at the barbell ends. it was pretty, he had to agree - starting at his outer cartilage and coming out again in the shell of his ear, it was unique, much like the boy sporting it.

“it’s beautiful.”

a beat. he was blushing, jeongin could tell, even in the dusk light.

“you’re beautiful, hyung.”

“that was so cliché, yang jeongin, you’re terrible.” changbin hit playfully at the younger’s leg, the two of them giggling together under the dim light of the stars.

“this whole situation is cliché, bin-hyung. maybe next time you can show me your tattoos.”

“hold on, i didn’t even tell you about all these yet-“ he gestured to his face with a smug expression.

jeongin sighed. “you’re lucky i like you.”

•

“happy 21st, jeongin-ah!”

not the words jeongin expected to be greeted with, but he wasn’t complaining.

“thank you, bin-hyung, can i have another line?”

changbin pulled a face. “only if i can take you out after. birthday treat, or something like that.”

•

today was a big day.

not a birthday, not an anniversary, not anything like that.

“it’s been two years since i started this whole line thing. well, two and one month. i didn’t want an unfinished tally.”

the milky skin of jeongin’s bicep now held five complete tally marks, each representing a month.

changbin looked at the younger’s art, tilting his head as he processed this information.

“and i never even asked you what they mean...”

jeongin grinned. “tell me what yours mean first, coward. you explained the piercings already, c’mon.”

a sigh left changbin’s lips as we finished wrapping jeongin’s newest tattoo. “i have lunch break now, if you wanna go somewhere?”

“i’d love to.” jeongin gripped the lotion bottle he was given, walking back to the front desk to pay for his tattoo.

•

“-you’re something else, hyung.”

changbin laughed at that, light and airy, and jeongin couldn’t not join in. “...but i love it.”

changbin’s fingers moved from the flowers that spiralled across his forearm (they were oddly delicate, considering they formed part of a sleeve - jeongin thought they fit him perfectly) to link with the younger’s.

the pair were slumped on changbin’s sofa, jeongin admiring the former’s tattoos. he blushed; all he’d done was hold his hand, so he had no business feeling as weak as he did at such a small act, but as he looked shyly up at changbin, he saw the elder sporting a similar expression - one of wonder, of fondness.

“anyway, that’s just my arms.”

right. that’s why they were in the security of changbin’s home, not a restaurant or something equally cheesy. before jeongin could properly register the connotations of those words, changbin was standing, pulling his shirt up and over his head.

“holy shit.”

the words were out of jeongin’s mouth before he could stop them, more of a soft gasp than anything else - whatever he’d expected, it wasn’t the twisting branches curling over his shoulder, the leaves spanning across the left side of his chest, the vines snaking around  
the gentle curve of his right hip. looking up from changbin’s torso, jeongin instead met his eyes, noticing now that the blush colouring his cheeks extended down his neck, tainting his chest a faint pink.

jeongin almost felt awkward; what was he supposed to do? sit on the sofa and just... stare? get up and touch changbin’s tattoos, trace the lines, ask what they meant?

he shook himself, trying to stop overthinking and just appreciate the moment. apparently he’d been so caught up in his own mind that he hadn’t noticed changbin turning around, and-

wow.

he’d never seen anything like it. the piece covered almost all of his back, detailing a simple tree, which wouldn’t have seemed as exciting if it wasn’t as beautifully designed. the roots began at the base of his spine, the trunk twisting across the span of his back and beginning to branch off across his shoulder blades. atop one of the thicker branches sat a large bird of prey, mid-caw, as a full moon shone behind it. the lower branches held spirals of ivy, trailing off and tangling around his waist, and the sparse leaves of the upper twigs wrapped around his left shoulder, his right bicep. everywhere jeongin looked, there was something new to admire about the piece, and he hadn’t even registered how long he’d been staring until-

“you done?”

changbin peeked over his shoulder at the younger boy, eyebrows raised. he got a solitary nod in return; jeongin was speechless. changbin came back to sit next to him, hand finding jeongin’s once more, fingers interlocking like they belonged.

jeongin took the opportunity to look at his chest (well, the art covering it) in more detail, free hand skating over the ink decorating changbin’s shoulders, the pretty leaves scattered across his pec.

“you’re a paradox all on your own, hyung.”

they were the first words he’d spoken since changbin had removed his shirt, and his voice was shaky, breathless.

“what?” the single word came with a subdued giggle, not quite sure what to make of the younger’s statement.

“just.. everything about you contrasts itself. like, you have this pretty face-“

“thanks, in-ah.”

“-let me finish. a pretty face, and all these badass piercings, you wear all black but you’re super soft and sweet, you’re covered in tattoos but they’re all so delicate and neat, and the delicate tattoos almost make you forget about your fucking pierced nipples.”

changbin laughed outright at that, feeling jeongin’s slender fingers brush down his arm, settling on his hip.

“christ, your fingers are cold.” jeongin grinned but didn’t move away, instead leaning into the inexplicable warmth of changbin’s body.

“how are you not freezing, hyung?”

changbin bit back a comment (something akin to ‘i’m too hot for that’, not that jeongin would ever find out) and instead pulled jeongin towards him, tattooed arms wrapping easily around the younger’s body.

“and why aren’t you, i don’t know, explaining the nipples?”

changbin blushed again. “i just.. liked the idea, thought they were hot, y’know. anyway, your turn, asshole. what’s with the lines?”

it was finally time. jeongin moved his head from where it had rested between the musical notes cascading down changbin’s arm and the rose decorating his neck, properly looking at him.

“i’m counting.”

changbin huffed. “real specific, jeongin. what are you counting?”

with a grin, jeongin paused, tugging at his sleeve to reveal the tally marks on his own bicep.

“how many tattoos i’ve got.”

changbin pushed the younger upon hearing that, making him fall ungracefully off the sofa with a dull thud.

“i’m no longer serving you.”

jeongin looked up from his spot on the floor, pouting. “but then i won’t get to see you anymore.”

“i never said i didn’t want to see you, in-ah,” changbin replied, rolling his eyes, “but you’ll have to, i don’t know, date me or something.”

jeongin startled, sitting up straight. he couldn’t deny he felt something towards the artist, between being taken aback by his appearance the first time they met, to falling in love with his personality as time went on. maybe he’d been harbouring a small school-boy crush, not that he’d ever tell changbin that, but it was crazy to know that he felt something in return.

“great, i’ve always wanted to kiss someone with a tongue piercing.”

“really? i tell you i like you and that’s all you’ve got to say-“

“well, maybe i like you too.”

changbin grinned, sliding off the sofa and into the space next to jeongin on the floor.

“you’re still not getting any more tattoos from me.”

•

(changbin’s piercings, jeongin found, made kissing just as interesting as he’d hoped.)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for sticking around to read this.... sorry if it sucked lmao and if you happened to not hate it, why? tell me in the comments! if i could improve (hell ye i could definitely improve) leave me some feedback! lemme know, i always strive to be better! did i spend too long on changbin’s aesthetic and forget the point of the fic, which was meant to be the tally tattoos saga? definitely!! was the ending awkward? probably.. and if you’re wondering, i just googled ‘back tattoos’ to get inspo for bin’s piece, thought it fit?
> 
> hit me up if you wanna: i love comments on here, my cc is [here](curiouscat.me/kamrynwrites), my twitter? [here!](twitter.com/kamrynmustwrite)
> 
> feel free to leave me prompts or fic ideas in any of these places!! thanks again for reading and for any kudos/comments x


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